Streetfight... Or... Scrap...

[Pionion]

Okay, So i have this 1997 Kawasaki ER500, Nothing special but i have used and abused it now for 15 months on my daily commute, She has now got 46,000 Miles on the clock, and having been ridden all winter, is in a bit of a sorry state...



She currently needs the Following work -

New Front Brake Disc
New Front Brake Pads
New Front Brake Lines
New Rear Shocks (Current Ones Leaking)
New Exhaust system (Current one cracked at the 2-1)
A Ruddy good service with valve clearances...

Normally i would just spend the money and do all that without thinking twice, However the bike only cost me £500 in the first place... So is it worth it??

I see it that i have three options:

1) Stop being so tight, splash out and get it back to good working order again & keep plodding to work until she gives up completely

2) Call it quits, Sell it for whatever silly money i get offered for it and find a new daily hack...

OR 3) Streetfight/Customise it a bit...

In mind i am thinking that for a little EXTRA money over option 1, i could land myself a nice shiny set of wavy discs, pads, calipers, lines etc... Some nice extended rear shocks to get that back end up in the air a little, a new under tray with some fancy rear lights, a little belly pan fairing, and finish it all off with a nice aggressive full exhaust system and a lairy rattle can paint job...

Now i know everyone is thinking, why even think of option 3... Well simply the following, so far it has been a cheap to run, realiable bike that returns 60mpg day in day out... So for the sake of a few extra quid over option 1, i could make my daily commute that little bit more special...

So... Opinions?


P.s. Forgot to add, that i would be doing all the work on it myself, as i am not scared of getting my tools dirty...

Edited by Pionion on Wednesday 11th June 09:07

Edited by Pionion on Wednesday 11th June 09:11

Edited by Pionion on Wednesday 11th June 09:16

[Pionion]

CBR JGWRR said:

Well, for keeping or scrapping it, scrapping it will get you maybe 150 quid max, and its worth way more than that to sell, even knocking off a bit for the to sort list.

As to customising it, why not? To keep it on the road will be a couple of hundred, to do what you've suggested would be a bit more than that, so as you would have to spend money anyway you may as well make it a bit special.


ETA - Its probably worth a good 300 to 400 to the right buyer as it is.

My thoughts exactly,

The sensible option is to get it back to a roadworthy state as cheaply as possible, but my man logic keeps coming along and saying "for a few extra quid... you could do this..." but ultimately... Its an ER5 at the end of the day, no matter how much i polish it!

[Pionion]

graham22 said:

As you have other bikes for fun, I'd be inclined just to get this back to decent spec as easy as possible.

All the items you mentioned are really service items on an older bike and would need doing even if you streetfighter it (hard to justify Streetfighter term for a CBT type bike )

As these are a common commuter bike, there's a pretty good chance someone has written one off - this could probably be a source of most of the parts you need.

Could a local exhaust company re-make a 2-1 part for your pipe, thought the Motads were stainless steel so guess cracked rather than rusted?

eta - not Motad pipe, looks standard, surely 2nd hand one out there on low mileage bike?

I agree, perhaps "streetfighter" is a little strong for an er5 ...

The plan for the exhaust would either be a second hand one, that after a little google actually seem harder to find than i first imagined, or Delkevic Offer a full system at a good price...

Edited by Pionion on Wednesday 11th June 09:41

[Pionion]

steve954 said:

What sort if money do you want for it?

I'd be open to a sensible offers - Pm me if your interested.

[Pionion]

moanthebairns said:

No idea what else you ride but if this is just to go to work and back whilst you have other bikes for fun then id be inclined to go with option 1

if you do it all yourself the biggest expenditure is going to be the disc. But you only need one.

£300-400 on shims, consumables, fluids etc then you have a bike for the rest of the year before it needs attention again.

however if you're attached to it then all logic goes out the window along with cash.

you'd maybe get £300 on gumtree, but then you need to replace that bike and it will be more than the cost of fixing yours

its only really worth scrapping if you were to pay a garage to fix it.

Got an SV650s, TL1000s & Bandit 600 in the garage as my weekend toys...
But i will confess i do have a slight attachment to this ER5 purely because it is so terrible... Hence the temptation to make it a bit less boring ER5 and a bit more... "what an earth is that"

[Pionion]

After pricing up some parts i think i am going to take a punt and go for Option 3!
I can't really make the bike much worse, and for the extra money involved it'd definitely brighten up the daily commute!

[Pionion]

The bandit was bought with the intention of just that, but it works out more expensive to run..

60mpg versus the bandit 45mpg (I do 35 miles a day so slowly adds up)
Chain, sprockets & tyres all considerably cheaper for the ER5

The more i think about it, the more i steer towards option 3 and playing around with it

[Bluehawk]

Sorry to revive an old thread people...

But I've finally decided after months of my ER5 sitting in the garage doing not much other than being started up now and again...
To strip it right down, give it a bloody good clean, service and some fresh parts along the way...

So after about 2 hours in the garage i managed to strip her down to this...




I have a whole host of new parts already on the way/ready to install...

- Braided brake lines for the front
- New front brake pads
- Piston & Seal kit to rebuild the caliper
- New Brake fluid
- New NGK spark plugs
- New NGK Plug caps
- Oil & Filter
- k&n air filter

Only big thing left on the list really is new rear shock absorbers...

The plan?

Take literally everything off the bike, clean it, replace anything that looks a bit worn/tired

Give it a new lick of paint... And put it back together

Is it really worth it?
probably not... But hey ho! Why not!

[Bluehawk]

Merch131 said:

Try YSS shocks.. cheaper than Hagons and better quality in my opinion. I got mine spec'd with the spring rate / length I wanted for no extra cost via my local bike shop .. £135 all in.

Could you get the exhaust down pipes welded? would save a lot.

To be honest the crack looked worse than it actually is no the exhaust is off the bike

I will most likely get a friend to give it a dab of weld

[Bluehawk]

Much to the disappointment of the other forum users, i will keep this thread updated with my progress...

So last night, another 2 hours in the garage after work...

After negotiating a few seized bolts here and there, managed to drop the engine out and do the valve clearances

[Bluehawk]

thatdude said:

How were the valve clearences?

They were actually all within tolerances, Exhaust valves were at the bottom end of tolerance so i only tweaked them to centre them in tolerances.

[Bluehawk]

Rubin215 said:

You do know that you don't have to drop the engine out to do the valve clearances, don't you?

It's a Kawasaki, not a Ducati...

Yeah, I didn't drop the engine specifically to do the valve clearances.
I'm cleaning up the whole bike, so stripping it right down to the frame,rebuilding it, replacing worn parts on the way.

[Bluehawk]

Rubin215 said:

If you've gone that far, you might as well strip the whole thing and have the frame and swingarm blasted and coated.

Good time to pick a wild colour and make a "statement" bike...

Well... Considering only 1 week ago i had a working ER5 that just needed some basic maintenance... I currently have this...






And don't worry, i have already sanded down the plastics ready for a nice lick of new paint

I even used this little project as an excuse to buy myself some nice shiny new tools